


An Invitation

by Nonesane



Category: Baccano!
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance, Yuletide 2009
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonesane/pseuds/Nonesane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chane invites her friends Jacuzzi and Nice on an outing with her and her fiancé.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Invitation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wolfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfic/gifts).



The sun was rising. Nice narrowed her eye and ever so slowly added a fine white powder to a glass decanter, holding her breath as she watched it rain down like falling snow. Once it had settled she waited another few heartbeats, then grinned. The first rays of the sun made the decanter glow orange-red.

"Beautiful," Nice muttered to herself, pausing to stare at the mixture for a long moment, before she carefully portioned it out into small, round shells.

As she was sealing the last of the shells, a shadow fell over her worktable. She looked up and came eye-to-envelope with a letter a large, tan hand was holding.

"Thanks Donny," she said and smiled up at the tall man the hand was attached to. She opened the envelope, unfolded the letter and skimmed through the first paragraph. "You eaten breakfast yet?"

Donny nodded, returning her smile.

"If you see Jacuzzi, could you tell him I'd like to talk to him?" Nice asked as she put the letter back into the envelope and began to carefully put the shells into a padded box, as if they were glass balls meant to hang in a Christmas tree.

"Sure," Donny replied and, with a final glance at the shells, he turned around and went back inside.

Nice took her time, placing wadding between each layer of shells. When she got to the last one her hand froze a few inches from the box. She gave it a long look, as if measuring it, then wrapped it in wadding and slipped it into one of her pockets.

****

The sun had just struggled its way completely over the horizon, when Nice put away the last of her equipment. The decanter was the last to go up on its shelf in the pantry-made-storage-space, not a speck of powder left in it.

Smiling to herself Nice closed the pantry, exited the room and locked it, before leaning against he hallway dresser and once more unfolding the letter.

The creaking of old wood alerted her to someone coming down the stairs. Someone proved to be Jacuzzi, who was rubbing sleep out of his eyes with the back of one arm.

"Morning!" Nice called to him, eye still on the letter.

Jacuzzi started a little, letting his arm fall to his side. "Good morning!" he called back, stifling a yawn. Almost as an after thought he added: "What are you reading?"

"An invitation," Nice replied, a smile on her lips, "from Chane."

Jacuzzi paused on the last step. "Chane? Is it good news? What's she writing?" he asked, the sleepy look having left his eyes within a second of Nice's words.

"She and her fiancé are inviting us out to dinner tomorrow," Nice answered and walked over to Jacuzzi. "They have something to celebrate and want to do it with some friends. Or, uhm, you'd better read for yourself." Nice's cheeks might have flushed a slight red. Maybe.

She handed the letter to Jacuzzi. His cheeks did redden when he was about halfway through reading, but his smile remained steady. "I'm really happy for her! I just hope we'll be able to help. But isn't the Wheel of Fortune a fancy place?" he commented and gave the letter back to Nice. He fidgeted a little as he said the word 'fancy'.

"Uh-huh," Nice replied. "We'll be needing new clothes or we won't be allowed past the entrance."

"B-but are you-" Jacuzzi's reply was cut short by the front door opening. Nick came ambling in, a newspaper under one arm, looking just about as sleepy as Jacuzzi had been moments ago.

"Morning," he muttered with a tired smile. "You heading out?"

Nice nodded and, after a second of hesitation, Jacuzzi mimicked her. "Any good news?" Nice asked.

"Not really." Nick held up the newspaper. Its front page was half covered by the picture of a burning building. "Some upstarts are running around torching and robbing gambling dens. It's got the cops on edge and..." He trailed off as he noticed that both Nice and Jacuzzi had gone very still. "Something wrong?"

"We're going to the Wheel of Fortune, tonight," Nice answered after a sidelong glance at Jacuzzi.

"Didn't know you gambled," Nick said, brow wrinkled in a thoughtful expression.

"We don't," Nice answered, putting the letter in one of her pockets. "But Chane has invited us there."

"Huh," Nick said, straightening up somewhat, still frowning. "You two going alone?"

"Chane invited us, so I'm sure we'll be fine," Jacuzzi said. "Mostly fine," he added after both Nick and Nice had given him a _look_.

"If her fiancé is who I think he is, we might need some backup," Nice added.

Nick nodded. "I'll tell the others." He made a move as if to continue walking, but paused before he could lift a foot. "Must be some occasion, going to a place like that," he commented.

This time Jacuzzi's smile was wider than Nice's. "Chane and her fiancé are planning their wedding."

****

They'd walked past five tables now and Nice was pressing her lips together as hard as she could. Jacuzzi – who'd been stuttering and blushing when they'd first arrived – was walking arm-in-arm with her, back straight and glaring at anyone who looked their way.

He look like a puppy who'd had its leash tugged on a few times too many. Nice stifled a laugh.

"Ignore them," she said, once she felt it was safe to open her mouth again.

"It's rude to stare," Jacuzzi muttered, attention mostly on three card-playing men to their left.

Nice glance to the right, noting a woman in an overly decorated green dress making a face. Nice smiled and pulled at the scarf around her shoulders, baring more of her scars. The woman turned her eyes away.

"I don't care," Nice assured Jacuzzi and gave his arm the lightest of squeezes.

Jacuzzi's eyes widened immediately and he gave a small laugh. "S-sorry Nice," he stuttered.

Nice opened her mouth to reply, but a waving hand caught her eye before she could say anything. Jacuzzi followed her gaze to a table in the far corner of the room, where a red haired, well dressed man was waving them over. The table's only other occupant was a woman in a black dress.

Jacuzzi and Nice lifted their free hands in a short wave of their own, then walked over to the table. Nice's cheerful "Good evening!" was followed by a less steady "H-hello," from Jacuzzi.

The man sat down and gestured for them to take the two chairs that were free. "Welcome! Sorry for calling you here on such short notice, but we don't know that many couples that we can ask for advice and Chane really wanted to see you again."

His tone of voice was very carefree – it was hard to imagine it belonged to a person who'd on more than one occasion been covered in blood from head to toe.

Jacuzzi gave the man a shaky smile, then turned his attention to Chane, who greeted him and Nice with a nod. She had a notepad in her lap. The expression on her face was the closest thing to a smile Jacuzzi had ever seen her make.

"Order anything you want. It's on me," the red-haired man said, before trying to attract the attention of a waitress.

"Eh," Jacuzzi uttered, nearly forgetting to pull the chair out for Nice.

"We haven't really been introduced," Nice cut in. "I'm Nice Holystone. I'm assuming you don't go by Rail Tracer anymore." Next to her Jacuzzi flinched slightly.

The man gave a laugh. Something not unlike a smile tugged at Chane's lips.

"Ah, sorry! I don't often get to introduce myself. Call me Felix Walken."

"Jacuzzi Splot," Jacuzzi added. Under the table he fisted his hands around a napkin.

A waitress made halt by their table and all four of them ordered - Chane with the help of her notepad. A long moment of awkward not-conversation followed, interrupted only by the arrival of their food. Jacuzzi made several attempts to say something, but each try ended up trailing off into apologies. Felix just kept smiling, watching Jacuzzi intently, while Chane and Nice focused on eating.

Finally Chane picked up her pen and wrote something on her notepad. She held it up so Nice had a good view of the paper. _Light blue suits you_, it said.

"Thank you," Nice replied. "We had a little trouble finding clothes showy enough for this place in time." She made a vague gesture with her fork at the room around them, as if to summarize the several other tables with well dressed occupants, the chandeliers, the people gathered at the gambling tables and the fairly large group of musicians by the dance floor. "We got some pretty odd looks too. But then again there's not a lot of people ordering dresses with pockets, hidden or not."

Both Chane and Felix nodded; Felix added a hum to his, as if to say 'that is sadly true'.

Nice then looked over at Jacuzzi and gave him a little nod and a smile, like a mother encouraging her young son to go play with the other children in the park. Jacuzzi returned the smile, though he kept on wringing his hands under the table.

"This place is really impressive," Jacuzzi commented, gaze flickering between Chane and Felix, as if he couldn't decide who he should be looking at. "It must have been hard to get a table. Did you have to book one? Can you do that?"

"Yes, something like that," Felix said, before Jacuzzi could dissolve into another fit of apologies. "A friend of mine helped out. He said it wasn't that difficult, with the robbers who're running around setting fires and all."

"Yeah, we heard about them," Nice commented.

There was yet another pause while they all sipped their wine and took a few more bites of their food.

"So, wedding plans!" Felix exclaimed, his smile widening into a grin. "For music we were thinking of asking my brother Keith's wife. She's a pianist, plays during pictures, really talented. We've also got the place and date and such details down, as I'm sure you saw in the letter. I even believe we've got the list of best man narrowed down enough, that we'll be able to make a decision without much further trouble."

He gave Chane a sidelong glance, that lasted for a few seconds. Both Jacuzzi and Nice got the feeling that they'd just missed part of the conversation, but neither commented on this.

Felix continued: "There's really only two things we need help with. Well, rather tips I should say."

"Anything we can do to help!" Jacuzzi said. "Right Nice?"

"Of course," Nice agreed.

"Great! So, how have you two managed to stay together for so long?"

"Eh?" Nice and Jacuzzi replied, almost as one.

The expression of Chane's face at that moment was definitely a smile.

"Chane told me you two have been together for a very long time. We're interested in knowing how," Felix elaborated, taking another bite of his lamb chop.

"Well. Uhm. That's to say..." Nice began, but didn't seem able to find any suitable words.

"I don't really think there's a special trick to it," Jacuzzi finally said. "As long as you like each other and..." He trailed off and turned his attention to his hands, that were resting in his lap. The tips of his ears had turned a dark shade of red.

"Good answer," Felix praised, holding his wine glass up in a toast. "Best one we've gotten so far I think."

Jacuzzi's eyes widened a little at first, but then he gave a small, embarrassed laugh and straightened up in his seat.

"Now, for the second, most important question," Felix said. If he made a gesture for Chane to take over, neither Nice nor Jacuzzi spotted it.

Chane held up her notepad again, once more making sure Nice had the best view of it. _Would you be my bridesmaid?_

Nice nearly dropped her knife and fork. "I-I-, eh, I..." was all she seemed able to get out, before a piece of potato attempted to find its way into her lungs, forcing her into a long coughing fit.

Chane's hands faltered and she began to lower both the notepad and her eyes. Next to her Felix's smile froze somewhat, though the only move he made was to cut himself another piece of lamb chop.

"No!" Nice gasped out once she could breathe properly again. "I mean yes! Yes, I'd be honored."

Chane and Felix relaxed simultaneously. _Thank you_, Chane wrote.

"I should be thanking you," Nice hurried to assure her. Jacuzzi nodded in agreement.

They spent the rest of the dinner sharing stories and anecdotes. Chane even sort-of-laughed at one point, which left Jacuzzi speechless (which only made Chane not-quite-laugh more).

A few minutes after the remains of the dessert had been cleared from the table, the band began to play. Immediately Felix was on his feet, bowing to Chane, who took his offered hand without hesitation.

"Excuse us for a moment," Felix apologized, already leading Chane to the dance floor, "It's not often we get the chance to dance. Come join us!"

Nice and Jacuzzi, still seated at the table, watched them leave. Jacuzzi's stomach broke the silence by rumbling, as the first dance started up.

"S-sorry," Jacuzzi mumbled.

Nice chuckled. "They look happy together, don't you think?" she commented. Chane and Felix whirled past, their eyes locked, content smiles on their lips.

"Yes," Jacuzzi agreed. His stomach gave another rumble. "I'll be right back, please save a dance for me." The words came rushing out of Jacuzzi's mouth as if they'd been chased out by rabid dogs.

Nice just smiles and answers: "Of course."

They slipped into silence again. Jacuzzi's cheeks started to take on a slight greenish tone. His stomach rumbled again.

"The bathrooms are over there," Nice supplied, pointing at the door through which they'd entered.

"Thank you!"

****

Jacuzzi tried the knob of yet another door. No luck.

"Hello!" he shouted, for the third time, but the hallway he was walking through remained empty. "I must have taken a wrong turn."

The next door he tried did however open. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Inside he could see what looked to be an office of some kind. The only furniture in there was a desk, a bookcase and a small safe. A man dressed in a gray suit was kneeling by the safe, his back to Jacuzzi.

"E-excuse me." Jacuzzi took a tentative step into the room. "I got lost on the way back from the bathroom. Could you please tell me how I get back to the room with the tables and the dance floor?"

The man in front of the safe froze. "You got lost on your way from the bathroom?" he echoed Jacuzzi after a few seconds of silence.

"Y-yes," Jacuzzi replied, fidgeting. "The door I'd come in through was locked and-"

The man suddenly got up and whirled around. He was almost twice as tall as Jacuzzi, with well-combed hair and a face only a mother could even consider loving. He was also holding a knife.

"Looks like you got unlucky, boy," the man growled, stalking closer. "Last week I might have let you live, but the boss says we can't afford witnesses anymore."

Jacuzzi whimpered and backed up a step, eyes glued to the knife.

"I'll slit your throat nice and quick, just stay-"

The man gave a shrieked as Jacuzzi slammed the door shut on his arm, making him lose his grip on the knife.

"You little bastard!"

Jacuzzi hiccuped, before slamming the door again, harder. This time the man sank to the floor with a grunt and didn't get up again.

Pausing to blink away tears Jacuzzi carefully edged closer to the unconscious man. He picked up the knife, hands shaking. With some effort he managed to pull the man inside the office. He then walked over to the desk, grabbed the chair behind it, carried it outside and closed the door. The chair he placed so it prevented the doorknob from being turned.

He stopped in the hallway to take a few deep breaths. Then he took off running.

****

_Where is Jacuzzi?_

"He went to the bathroom when you two started dancing," Nice replied, glancing at the exit. "I was just about to go look for him."

Chane's eyes widened. It was only slightly and only for a second, but Nice caught it.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, getting to her feet so quickly that her chair jumped back a bit.

"Not really, but we might have to run in a few seconds," Felix supplied, unbuttoning his jacket. He wasn't smiling anymore.

While Felix undid his cufflinks, Chane produced two daggers from folds in her dress and Nice bit her lip while picking bombs out of hidden pockets.

Those of the other guests who'd noticed them began to edge away, alerting the rest of the room. Nice held up her hands and opened her mouth to speak.

That's when the sound of gunshots cut through the muttering and whimpering. Nice, Chane and Felix were off in the direction of the noise before anyone had time to as much as scream.

****

There were five men with guns in the kitchen. Five men. Five guns.

Also, they had four hostages; one chef and three waitresses.

Jacuzzi glanced around the corner of the counter he was crouched behind. He was still holding the knife he'd gotten from the man in the office. His gaze kept getting drawn to the waitress in the far corner of the room – the one with a bleeding bullet wound in her left shoulder.

"Ah Jacuzzi, there you are!"

Jacuzzi nearly jumped out of his skin. In the kitchen doorway stood Felix, unarmed and a disturbingly wide, close-lipped smile on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" a man wearing a somewhat battered green hat shouted, his gun aimed at Felix's head. "And who are you talking to?"

Felix took a step into the room. Three more of the guns immediately redirected their aim to his head. He stopped, right next to where Jacuzzi was hiding. "I think you'd better come see for yourselves. I've never been very good at describing people."

The man in the green hat hesitated. He frowned, glanced over his shoulder at his four companions and at the hostages, then back at Felix. Felix remained where he was, still smiling.

With a nod to two of his companions, the man in the green hat walked over to Felix, gun still aimed at his head. The two men he'd nodded at – a pale man with a big, blond beard and a short man with glasses – followed suit.

Hearing the approaching steps Jacuzzi hurried to hide the knife behind his back, against the counter.

"A kid," the bearded man huffed, as he spotted the Jacuzzi.

The man in the green hat didn't comment. Instead he turned to Felix. "Fine, you're here. Who are you and what do you want?"

"That's not really important, is it?" was Felix's only reply.

The bearded man gave another huff. The man with the glasses said nothing. The man in the green hat frowned. "I'm afraid it is. And just so you know, there won't be any help coming. Any minute now my guys will have set the rest of this place on fire and closed off all the exits. If you want to live, you'll need to go out through that door." He gestured with his free hand at door at the far end of the room, where the two other armed men were guarding the hostages. "And the only way that'll happen is if you don't plan to get in our way. So, are you?"

"Of course we wouldn't dream of hindering you, gentlemen," Felix chirped, ignoring Jacuzzi shaking his head furiously. "We obviously don't stand a chance against you. Isn't that right, Jacuzzi?"

"Yeah," Jacuzzi squeaked in agreement, eyes darting between the guns and the faces of the men holding them.

"Fine," the man in the green hat grunted. None of the guns were lowered. "So, I repeat, who the hell are you? Don't make me ask again."

Felix's eyes, previously fixed on the man in the green hat's face, slid left to look over the man's shoulder for the briefest of moments and back again. Suddenly Felix's smile took on a hard edge that made Jacuzzi's blood freeze.

"I've almost lost track of the name's I've had up until now," Felix murmured, taking a step forward. "I think you'd know me best as Vino, though. After all the messages I've left you in the last weeks I'd be hurt if you didn't remember me."

All colored drained from the man in the green hat's cheeks. The bearded man whimpered and the man with the glasses dropped his gun. Luckily no shot was accidentally fired.

At the same time a cut off curse and a grunt could be heard from over by the hostages. Before Jacuzzi could see what had happened, he heard Nice's voice shout:

"Take cover!"

Reflexes from years spent with Nice had Jacuzzi sprawled behind the counter, hands over his ears, a heartbeat after the words had been heard. Felix remained standing. The robbers had no time to react.

There was a customary bang usually associated with bombs. It was, however, also accompanied by a huge cloud of smoke that spread through the room like smog. Soon everything was enveloped in a thick, gray mist.

What followed was quick, quiet madness.

Jacuzzi kept to the floor. He crawled, hands no longer over his ears, but on the side of the counter, feeling his way out as if he were blind.

Above him half uttered screams could be heard. A glimpsed of black cloth, as well as the glint of steel flashed through the smokescreen, followed by a gargling noise.

A hand reached for him. Even wearing a light blue silk glove Jacuzzi would have known it as Nice anywhere.

The smoke was slow to clear. When it finally did, the only occupants of the room left standing were Felix and the man in the green hat. A second later the man in the green hat gave a groan and fell over.

"Let's leave the cleanup to the guards," Felix said and motioned for Jacuzzi and Nice to follow him out the back door. Chane was nowhere to be seen and neither were the hostages.

With a last glance at the bodies littered all over the room, Nice made sure she had a firm grip on the arm Jacuzzi had slung over her shoulder, then helped him walk out the door.

****

"Did you know that was going to happen?" The tone of Nice's voice wasn't accusing, but neither was it amused.

"Yes," Felix replied. He'd taken off his jacket and draped it over Chane's shoulders. The snowflakes that were gathering on it already made it look more gray than black.

"You could have warned us," Nice stated once more. Jacuzzi threw her a worried look, but didn't say anything.

"There was no need to worry you. You were never in any danger. I wouldn't have allowed you to get hurt," Felix said, in a way that implied he found this to be as obvious as that the sky was blue. "They were making trouble for a friend of mine, so combining a favor with our meeting seemed like a good idea."

And that seemed to be that.

Chane began to write once more and motioned for Nice to come read. Nice hesitated, but only for a second.

Jacuzzi, heart still racing, watched Nice and Chane with a not-quite-smile on his face. His knees were shaking.

"Chane asked me to give you this." Jacuzzi didn't even have the energy to react as Felix slipped him a small and very neatly folded note. He stared down at the piece of paper in his hand for a full five seconds, before he even thought to unfold and read it.

"It's the address to the man who made our wedding rings," Felix explained, voice lowered. "We thought you might have use for it."

Jacuzzi continued to stare at the note for a long, long moment. His ears took on a telltale red coloring again. "T-thank you."

"You're very welcome," Felix replied, then straightened up and turned his attention to Nice and Chane, who'd finished writing. "I'm afraid it's gotten very late." He offered his arm to Chane, who took it. "We'll see you on the tenth, then? Remember to bring friends!"

Once more smiling, Nice replied: "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"See you on the tenth!" Jacuzzi called.

Nice and Jacuzzi waved goodbye to Felix and Chane, until they were disappeared from view by rounding a corner.

"What did he give you?"

Jacuzzi jumped and whirled around to face Nice so quickly he nearly slipped on the icy pavement. "N-nothing!" he mumbled, as he fought to regain his balance. "I'll show you later, I promise."

Nice's lifted an eyebrow, but then followed Jacuzzi's gaze. "Ah," she said. Through the falling snow the silhouettes of Nick, Donny and three others could be seen, at the far end of the alley by the Wheel of Fortune's kitchen. "I told them to get the hostages to safety. Must have found help nearby."

Jacuzzi unbuttoned his jacket. It took him two tries, but in the end he did manage to drape it over Nice's shoulders.

"That new bomb was really impressive," Jacuzzi commented. His eyes kept straying to Nice's right arm. Nice narrowed her eye as she spotted this, then reached out and linked her arm with his. Jacuzzi let out a breath that sounded like a mixture of a gasp and a sigh of relief.

"Thanks," Nice finally replied. "I'm glad it worked."

Nick and Donny had stopped at the mouth of the alleyway. Donny had leaned down so Nick could whisper something to him. Neither Nice nor Jacuzzi could make out their faces yet, but they both suspected their friends were grinning.

"We'll have to get even more fancy clothes," Nice said. "Chane gave me an address to this place where they don't ask questions when you want dresses with hidden pockets."

This time it was Jacuzzi's turn to give Nice's arm a squeeze. "Felix gave me something like that too," he mumbled, eyes fixed on the falling snow ahead of them. "I-I'll tell you tomorrow."

Nice said nothing, but the smile on her face was rather knowing.

Behind them and behind the snow clouds, the sun went down behind the horizon.


End file.
